


Interested

by MilkTeaMiku



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Lance (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, No Smut, Omega Keith (Voltron), Omega Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 12:22:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12681819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkTeaMiku/pseuds/MilkTeaMiku
Summary: Keith's heat is approaching, which means he definitely needs to tell his alpha, Lance.





	Interested

Keith was training on the training deck when he first realised that the coiling unease in his gut was not exhaustion, but something else – the beginnings of heat. It wasn’t the most convenient time to realise his body was being traitorous, not when he was in the middle of something important. The castle’s training droid swung its long staff, almost clocking him across the head with it until he rushed to shout, “End training simulation!”

He stood there panting, clutching his knife like he was going to drop it at any given second. He spent a moment listening to his body, trying to take in all the aches and pains rattling through him. It was easy to categorise them, to break everything down into training-aches and heat-aches. Some were easy to discern, like the bruise blossoming on his ribs from the last time he was tossed around in Red and the ache in his knuckles from swinging his Bayard too hard against a solid surface. But there were other things that were less obvious.

Like that unsteady feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t like the feeling he got from hunger, or the twinges from when he’d eaten something bad, or the cramps he got when he was sick. It was something altogether different, sort of like butterflies, something restless that came in uncomfortable fits and starts. That feeling was always accompanied by little flashes of excessive warmth that usually started in the same place. They were more predictable, and easier to notice, and as he concentrated, he could feel said warmth pooling in the pit of his stomach.

Definitely heat.

Which wasn’t exactly what he wanted. The opposite, actually. Don’t get him wrong, he didn’t care that he was an omega. He had no preference for that kind of thing, even if – when it really came down to it – he did prefer the male body over the female one. It probably would have been better strategically if he had the general height and body mass of a healthy alpha, but being an omega didn’t mean he couldn’t be strong and quick on his feet. And he was both of those things, often more than alphas were, in fact. He didn’t let his secondary gender limit him.

But his heat would sort of be a problem. In space, none of the Paladins had their usual suppressants. Keith’s body had gone through an uncomfortable detox before settling into its most natural routine, free of medications and preventatives. Of course, that also meant he no longer had his birth control, which wasn’t the best thing for him. He’d managed without it. He’d manage now, too.

There was a small difference, however. Back on Earth, when he’d gone off suppressants to give his body a break from the chemicals, he’d been alone in the desert. It was convenient to be away from people, to experience a heat or two when he was safe in isolation. There was no one around for miles, no one to smell his scent or find him. Heats rendered him all but useless, weak and vulnerable in a way that only omegas in heat could be. It was sort of similar for an alpha’s rut, but ruts were usually more aggressive. Keith had never seen an alpha in rut, but he’d smelled one, and it was strong and foul. He wouldn’t like an alpha’s scent unless he liked the alpha themselves, that he was sure of.

And he liked Lance.

That was the small difference. He had a mate now, and although they’d been together for a while, he and Lance hadn’t talked about heats and ruts. It just hadn’t come up. It wasn’t something that usually came up in casual conversation. For the most part, Keith avoided thinking about it. Voltron matters were more important, required more attention than his biology did. At least, that was how it had been, before he felt his heat start to creep up on him.

All of the Paladins were adjusting to being without medication, so none of them had gone through a cycle yet. Their team had two betas, two alphas, and himself, an omega. That meant Shiro and Lance, the alphas, would also experience a rut at some point. Still, it seemed like Keith would be the first to have a cycle, which meant he definitely needed to tell Lance, even if he baulked just thinking about it.

But first, a shower.

 

After he and Lance had started to tentatively navigate their friendship into a mateship, they’d started sleeping in the same room. Keith shouldn’t have been surprised, but Lance was an avid hugger, and he loved to cuddle at night. He’d stuff his hands under Keith’s shirt or down the back of his pants, not in a seductive way, but just to feel his skin. It had made Keith feel weird for the first few weeks, but when Lance had picked up on that and taken a step back, Keith had immediately missed the feel of the alpha’s hands on him. Keith had never thought he’d be the type of person to appreciate a clingy bed mate, but if it was Lance, then he didn’t really mind.

Having a shared room certainly made it easier to track Lance down after his shower. He’d washed all the sweat and grime off of every inch of himself, hoping to dull his scent a little. It was going to grow much stronger in the coming days, hours even, and he wanted to be as subtle about his heat as he possibly could be. 

He hadn’t expected to be able to hide it from Lance. There was no one more in tune with his scent than Lance, no one who knew it so well. It was sometimes frustrating to be so easily read by his mate, but Lance never took advantage of his sense of smell, never exposed how Keith was feeling when his anger made the room smell too spicy or his need for space produced the overbearing scent of burnt sugar.

Lance had his nose pressed against the scent glands low on Keith’s neck the moment he took a seat beside him on the bed. Keith’s hair was still damp from his shower, and it made Keith shiver when Lance carefully pushed the longest strands away from his skin. “You smell different,” Lance said, surprised. “Sweeter.”

“My heat is coming,” Keith muttered. He’d forced down any lingering embarrassment he had over it the moment Lance had walked into the room – he’d taken a shower after Keith had finished.

Lance blinked several times, his mouth falling open like he wanted to say something. After a moment of thought, he said, “Okay. That’s okay. What do you want to do about it?”

Keith hadn’t really thought that far ahead. He knew that having an alpha with him during his heat would feel good and he did trust Lance to take care of him, but he didn’t think he was ready to take that step yet. One day for sure, but not yet. Would it be selfish of him to still want Lance around during his heat? He’d spent all of his previous heats alone, and now that the option to be with someone he cared about was there, he didn’t want to give it up.

“I don’t have my medication,” Keith eventually said, his words slow and cautious. “So I can’t- it’s not safe…”

Lance reached out to cradle Keith’s fingers in his own. He had nice hands – long, slender fingers with prominent knuckles and wide palms. One of his hands had a tiny, almost unnoticeable scar, criss-crossing with the lines on his palm. He had hands with talent in them. “Keith,” he said, low and serious enough for Keith’s eyes to dart up to his, “this is not my body or my feelings we’re talking about. Whatever you want to do, I’m fine with. It’s your choice.”

It was uncanny how often Lance knew what he was thinking. No one could read Keith as easily and as readily as Lance could. It was frustrating sometimes, but other times it was incredibly useful. Sometimes it was easier to just say yes or no when Lance asked him a question, because often it was a question Keith was thinking himself, but unable to put into words. 

“Whatever you want,” Lance reminded him, when he remained stubbornly silent. 

“I don’t want to go all the way, not yet,” Keith said, “but I…” He knew that it was difficult for alphas to ignore the scent of an omega in heat, even more so if it was their own omega. 

“I can stay if you want me to,” Lance reassured him. He ran his thumb along the small scent glands on the underside of Keith’s wrist, encouraging him to speak his mind. “Or I can go. I’m not going to be offended if you want me to leave, Keith. I understand if you want to be on your own.”

“You won’t?” He asked, weak. “Be offended, I mean.”

Lance shook his head. “No, not at all.”

Keith knew that Lance wasn’t lying. He wasn’t a good liar, but even so, he never lied to Keith. It was strange, and a little comforting, to have someone be so understanding about his decisions, even when he had yet to decide on them. He’d never experienced that sort of thing before, and it was strange to think someone could love him enough to be so forgiving.

But Lance was like that. He’d never pushed Keith when it came to their mateship, or his body, or his instincts. At the very beginning, Lance had been more eager for a relationship than Keith had, but he’d patiently waited until Keith was ready for anything to happen. Keith loved him all the more for it. He wasn’t a trusting person, and he didn’t inherently know how to befriend people or read certain types of body language. Figuring out Lance liked him had been a shock, and figuring out he was interested in Lance back was even more surprising. 

But he was interested. Very interested. More interested than he’d ever been in another person before.

“I don’t want to be on my own,” he said.

Lance’s fingers tightened around his, just for a moment. “Okay. Do you want me to stay?”

Keith nodded.

“But no sex?”

He hesitated again, mulling over the question. He could feel his inexperience pressing down on his shoulders, and it made him hunch into himself. He’d never had sex, and only really took care of himself in that way when he was in heat. He wanted Lance to stay, and for them to do… things, but was that considered sex?

“Okay, how about this,” Lance said, when he sensed Keith’s scent begin to sour with worry, “how about I say something, and you tell me if you want to do that or not? And you have to tell me the truth. It’s okay to say no.”

“Alright.” That sounded easy enough.

“I’m going to go ahead and say no to penetrative sex,” Lance said. “As in, with dicks.”

Keith’s face burned. Definitely a no. 

For now.

“What about fingers?” Lance asked. “That okay?”

“Yeah,” Keith said. He held himself still, trying not to squirm. “That’s- yeah.”

Lance grinned, starting to look dreadfully amused. “Mouths?”

“That’s okay.”

“Good,” Lance all but purred. 

Keith wanted to cringe, but he didn’t. Lance’s enthusiasm was reassuring. He knew that he wasn’t unattractive, but Lance’s eagerness to be with him that way, without any barriers, was definitely a huge confidence booster. 

They spent the time before dinner talking about it. Eventually, discussing his cycle became easier, and Keith didn’t hesitate before telling Lance what he wanted and didn’t want. The more Lance explained how sex could be – that it was more than just penetration – the more Keith could figure out what he wanted. Penetrative sex was a no go, even though Keith knew it would probably feel good, even if it was awkward. Neither he nor Lance were quite ready for that. But pretty much everything else was okay – hands, mouths, fingers.

Just talking about it made Keith feel even warmer.

Lance scented him for several minutes before they went to dinner. It gave Keith a chance to calm down, for his scent to disperse a little. Everyone would be able to tell he was getting close to heat, but Lance seemed incredibly determined to cover as much of it as he could with his own scent.

Keith grumbled and complained, but he made no real effort to stop him.

 

Most omegas built nests for their heats. In that sense, he was like anyone else – after dinner, he kicked Lance out of their room, and got to work.

He wasn’t much of a nest builder. When he had his heats in the desert, he’d obsess over his nest, trying to make himself feel as safe as possible. He hadn’t had much fabrics out there, and everything either smelt like him or like sand. It hadn’t been the best, but he’d made do with what he had.

Now, it was different. Lance was fond of soft things, so his room was the perfect place to build a nest. He had spare blankets and pillows stuffed in the hidden cupboards beneath his bed, and a lot of sleep wear that he’d found in the castle storage rooms. Not to mention Lance’s room smelt heavily of the alpha himself, and of Keith. There wasn’t a better place in the universe to spend his heat, so he was determined to make a nest good enough to impress his alpha.

By the time he was done, he was tentatively proud of his nest. It clearly wasn’t made with the most careful hands, and it wasn’t very neat, but it was his. He’d used some of Lance’s clothes, including his jacket – which Keith was pretty sure he’d left behind on purpose – to make the nest smell like his mate. It was probably the nicest nest he’d ever made, though that wasn’t saying much.

Generally, an omega nested for a day or so, but Keith was impatient. Alphas weren’t allowed anywhere near nests, even if it belonged to their omega, until the omega was ready. Keith knew that if he wanted time to make his nest smell more like him, or to get better settled into it, then Lance would stay away.

But he didn’t want that.

He found Lance hovering in the hallway, looking tense with alpha instincts. It made sense – his omega was going into heat and was vulnerable while nesting, and on top of that he wasn’t allowed close. Keith would have been more surprised if Lance hadn’t been in the corridor.

Lance took one look at his face and then grinned. He was doing that thing again where he knew exactly what Keith was thinking, and took no time disappearing back into the room with him.

Keith hung back, nervous, as Lance surveyed his nest. This was something he’d never done, either, just like the rest of the whole heat business. He was sure Lance had seen nests before – maybe his mother’s, or an older sibling’s. He hoped that his measured up.

Lance gave him a stunning grin over his shoulder. “I love it,” he declared.

A relieved exhale left him. Keith smiled, feeling weak in the knees. He practically melted when Lance grabbed him by the hips to pull him close. Lance’s nose pressed against his neck, breathing in his scent.

“How are you feeling?” Lance asked, as he nuzzled under Keith’s chin.

“Alright,” Keith said, somewhat distracted by Lance’s addictive, rainy scent. “Good.”

Lance laughed quietly. He walked Keith backwards until they gracelessly fell into a heap in the nest. Keith let out an exhale when Lance fell on top of him, but he didn’t let Lance move far away from him when the alpha shifted into a more comfortable position. Lance tucked Keith against his chest so that they were face-to-face, Keith’s arms stuck pressed between them. He blinked several times when he found himself nose-to-nose with his grinning mate, and couldn’t help but grin himself, too.

“Why, hello there,” Lance teased.

“You’re an idiot,” Keith said.

“Yes, but I’m your idiot.”

Keith flushed. He ducked his head to hide his embarrassed expression. “Idiot alpha.”

Lance hummed, nudging his nose through Keith’s hair. One of his hands slipped up the back of Keith’s shirt like it usually did. His palm was warm against the small of Keith’s back, and even just that simple touch made Keith feel desperate for more. He leaned into the touch, tilting his head back so that Lance could press his lips into the sensitive place under his chin.

“How long do you think until your heat starts properly?” Lance asked.

It took Keith a moment to comprehend the question. All he could feel was Lance’s hands on his skin, and the way Lance’s gentle, feather-light kisses made his skin tingle. “A couple of hours, maybe.” His heat would probably hit sometime tomorrow morning, or sometime during the night so he’d wake up hot and sweaty. That’s what usually happened. 

“Alright.” Lance smoothed his hand down Keith’s side. “Let’s try and get some sleep, okay? Just wake me if you need anything.”

Keith nodded. He leaned up to press his lips against Lance’s, sighing when his alpha eagerly returned the affectionate gesture. “Thanks,” Keith murmured.

Lance kissed him again, long and sweet. “Thank you for trusting me to be there for you,” he whispered. “I never thought I’d have such a strong omega all to myself.”

Keith smiled. “Flatterer. I love you.”

“It’s just the truth.” Lance nuzzled their noses together. “And I love you too.”

They didn’t say that often, letting actions speak the words instead, but that was a moment for it to be said. Keith had never meant those words more.

He’d never love anyone more than Lance.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't the dynamic I prefer for Keith and Lance, but it was interesting to explore a softer, more vulnerable side to Keith ^^


End file.
